FLIGHT. JULY 27. 1933
other arguments would not weigh very much by
themselves.
We think that the Secretary of State was rather
pessimistic in his estimate of cost. Lady Houston
guaranteed £100,000 for the winning of the last
Schneider and the establishment of Stainforth's
record. Lord Londonderry says that to regain the
record would cost at least £200,000. His Lordship
may be right, but the figure seems very high when
only a record, not a Schneider contest plus a record,
is in question. A great part of the difficulties of
design with the Schneider machines was the stowage
of the fuel for the course and the water for the
engine. These difficulties shrink to small dimensions
when a machine is only wanted to make four or five
runs over a course of 3| kilometres. It is true that
our last record was the mere bagatelle of 407 m.p.h.,
while to beat Italy's we must design a machine which
can at least make a speed of 42876 m.p.h., for a
speed record stands until it is beaten by five miles
an hour. But as our 407 m.p.h. was flown by a
Schneider machine and not by a special record
machine, it might not tax our Mitchells and Row-
ledges too highly to produce a machine which could
do that for considerably less than £200,000. We
should not need so many as four machines, or a
High Speed Flight of so many as five pilots. Still,
if the plea simply is that Great Britain cannot afford
the money, there is nothing for it but to accept the
decision, however unpalatable it may be.
Our own feeling is that the other arguments
weakened rather than strengthened the case put for
ward by the Secretary of State, and in particular
the argument about risk. Italy has certainly paid
a heavy price in lives for her success
The Risk ? in high-speed work. We can recall
straight away the names Motta, Dal
Molin, Monte, and Neri. Our own loss in high-speed
work consists of Kinkead and Brinton. The Secre
tary of State mentioned that four Air Force pilots
had lost their lives " in practice for the Schneider
Trophy or in attempts on world's records." We
have mentioned two of them. The other two can
only be Jones-Williams and Jenkins, who were
killed in an attempt on a world's record, i.e., the
long-range record, but not on high-speed work. If
those were the two to whom the Secretary of State
referred, the allusion did nothing to strengthen his
argument about the risks of high-speed work, and
it was rather like dragging a red herring across the
trail. It was a pity to confuse the issue in that way.
Everyone knows that if pilots were invited to
volunteer for a new high-speed flight, hundreds of
names would be sent in. We admit that the Secre
tary of State must not risk the lives of willing
volunteers without good cause, and that he and his
advisers at the Air Ministry are the only judges of
what constitutes a good cause. But high-speed flying
must inevitably go on. The speed of our landplanes
is ever being increased, and lately we have produced
a special " Fury " said to be capable of 250 m.p.h.
It is not many years since that was greater than the
speed of a Schneider winner, and in those recent
years there were folks who shook their heads and
said it was all very dangerous, and what was the
good of it anyway? A few years hence 428 m.p.h.
may be thought a very normal speed for aeroplanes.
The world simply will not stand still in these matters,
and Great Britain must not be left behind while
others lead. In many ways fast landplanes are more
dangerous than fast seaplanes. The only serious
difficulty with the seaplanes is in taking off, and
it was during an attempt to take off that Brinton
lost his life. In the air the seaplanes were easy to
fly, according to Wing Com. Orlebar. There were
no mishaps of any consequence during landings.
Landing a very fast landplane is at least as risky a
business. Nevertheless, high-speed work will go on,
whether it be on seaplanes or on landplanes. It
seems to us a pity that the work should not have the
world's record before it as an incentive.
The sympathies of everyone will go out to Mr.
and Mrs. Mollison on their hard luck. The great
danger of crossing the Atlantic in a landplane was
past. The ' were flying over the land, to all intents
and purposes just finishing a special,
Hard Luck ^ut no± an abnormal, long flight.
Goo^Luck They realised their shortage of petrol
and decided to land. Then, perhaps,
the strain of the long hours on physical endurance
and of the risks encountered began to tell, and in
landing unceremonious^ the " Dragon " turned
over. It and both its occupants suffered damage.
Everyone is very glad that neither of the pilots was
seriously injured.
When the Mollisons first published their plans, we
expressed the opinion that a long-distance record,
such as one from New York to Baghdad, would be
a flight very well worth while. The best policy
would be to transport the machine to the starting
point in the safest way, which in this case would not
be by air. To ruin the chances of a flight which
would have been really worth while by a more or
less ordinary crossing of the Atlantic was a risk not
worth the taking. Our fears, though not our worst
fears, have been verified. The really important
flight must now be postponed for a long time, which
is unfortunate.
What the Mollisons did achieve, however, was very
well done. Their navigation was good. Each of
them on previous solo flights has done well in navi
gation, and when together both kept up their repu
tations. The ' Dragon " and the two " Gipsy
Majors " also did bravely. The fuel economy seems
to have been very good. They are said to have had
400 gallons of fuel on board, and they were in the
air for 39 hours, which gives a consumption of five
gallons per hour per engine, as against the 6| g-P-h-
which a " Gipsy Major " usually consumes. The
de Havilland firm deserve hearty congratulations.
At the same time, Mr. Wiley Post finished his
flight round the world in about 7\ days. Evidently
these feats of wonderful endurance must amuse Mr.
Post. They also do great credit to modern engines
and machines. They may point the way to very
rapid travel in the future, when air routes are
organised in different parts of the world. We can
not believe that many people will for some little time
want to fly across either the North Atlantic or the
North Pacific, but certainly very long air journeys
will be possible in the future where the traffic justi
fies them. The names of the pioneers will then be
remembered with honour.
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